What do we know and what could we know about gender and education in Tanzania
Okkolin, Mari-Anne / 2007

The Government of Tanzania is signatory to many international and regional human rights agreements asserting equity policies and non-discriminatory policies in education, and it has initiated a series of policies and reforms in the education sector with the aim of promoting education and empowerment of girls. To take full advantage of strategic opportunities for institutionalising gender in the education sector structure at all levels of the education establishment, well-articulated initiatives of how to turn gender sensitive principles into sustainable, gender responsive practices, is required. According to previous research, international agreements and co-operation programmes strongly direct national education policies, although their impact on implementation is far less evident. On the other hand, several studies have shown that educational paths are crucially constructed by factors related to socio-cultural background, images of self, personal abilities and educational opportunities. Therefore, in addition to look at the education and training system in itself, the wider non-educational environment outside the education system should be taken into consideration. Socially constructed space including agencies, institutions and social relations at various levels may be defined as an enabling environment, and when looking at girls’ educational opportunities, the emphasis for social and familial levels is well-grounded. To what extent and how though, is gender addressed in education sector strategic planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in Tanzania? Based on the content analysis of policy documentation I ask furthermore, how the voices - success stories - of educated girls as well as families and communities around them could be better included in policy discussions in order to further support implementation of educational equity policies.